CHAP. 29.—THE EUPATORIA: ONE REMEDY.
The eupatoria[637] also is a plant under royal patronage. The stem of it is ligneous, hairy, and swarthy, and a cubit or more in length. The leaves, arranged at regular intervals, resemble those of cinquefoil or hemp; they have five indentations at the edge, and are swarthy like the stem, and downy. The root is never used. The seed, taken in wine, is a sovereign remedy for dysentery.
CHAP. 30.—CENTAURION OR CHIRONION: TWENTY REMEDIES.
Centaury,[638] it is said, effected a cure for Chiron, on the occasion when, while handling the arms of Hercules, his guest, he let one of the arrows fall upon his foot: hence it is that by some it is called “chironion.” The leaves of it are large and oblong, serrated at the edge, and growing in thick tufts from the root upwards. The stems, some three cubits in height and jointed, bear heads resembling those of the poppy. The root is large and spreading, of a reddish colour, tender and brittle, a couple of cubits in length, and full of a bitter juice, somewhat inclining to sweet.
This plant grows in rich soils upon declivities; the best in quality being that of Arcadia, Elis, Messenia, Mount Pholoë, and Mount Lycæus: it grows also upon the Alps, and in numerous other localities, and in Lycia they prepare a lycium[639] from it. So remarkable are its properties for closing wounds, that pieces of meat even, it is said, are soldered together, when boiled with it. The root is the only part in use, being administered in doses of two drachmæ in the several cases hereafter[640] mentioned. If, however, the patient is suffering from fever, it should be bruised and taken in water, wine being used in other cases. A decoction of the root is equally useful for all the same purposes.
CHAP. 31.—THE CENTAURION LEPTON, OR LIBADION, KNOWN ALSO AS FEL TERRÆ: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES.
There is another centaury also, with diminutive leaves, known by the additional name of “lepton.”[641] By some persons it is called “libadion,”[642] from the circumstance that it grows upon the borders of fountains. It is similar to origanum in appearance, except that the leaves are narrower and longer. The stem is angular, branchy, and a palm in height; the flower is like that of the lychnis,[643] and the root is thin, and never used. It is in the juice that its medicinal properties are centred: it being gathered in the autumn, and the juice extracted from the leaves. Some persons cut up the stalks, and steep them for some eighteen days in water, and then extract the juice.
In Italy this kind of centaury is known as “gall[644] of the earth,” from its extreme bitterness. The Gauls give it the name of “exacum;”[645] from the circumstance that, taken in drink, it purges off all noxious substances by alvine evacuation.
CHAP. 32.—THE CENTAURIS TRIORCHIS: TWO REMEDIES.
There is a third kind of centaury also, known as the “centauris triorchis.”[646] It is but rarely that a person cuts it without wounding himself. The juice emitted is just the colour of blood.[647] Theophrastus relates that this plant is under the protection of the triorchis, a kind of hawk, which attacks those who gather it; a circumstance to which it owes its name. Ignorant[648] persons are in the habit of confounding all these characteristics, and attributing them to the centaury first named.